Turning Assassination Into Opportunity in Afghanistan

After Ahmed Wali Karzai's murder, the U.S. can encourage a more inclusive politics in the vital Kandahar province.

By

Michael O'Hanlon

July 14, 2011

It is certainly too much to call Tuesday's killing of Ahmed Wali Karzai in Kandahar good news. The half-brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai had unsavory ways, but the United States had generally come to see him as a person we could work with.

As head of Kandahar's provincial council, he was the most senior elected leader in the region. Some U.S. officials thought he was gradually mending his ways—which for years included building a considerable patronage network and mafia-like dominion over Kandahar's political...